Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
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I-What is Feminism?
The term ‘feminism’ has many different uses and its meanings are often
contested. For example, some writers use the term ‘feminism’ to refer
to a historically specific political movement in the US and Europe;
other writers use it to refer to the belief that there is a list of injustices
against women; although this list is unspecified. Feminism came first
as a reaction to patriarchy as a doctrine in the western societies.
Patriarchy as "a social system based on sexual hierarchy" puts men at
the top and women below; Feminism as an ideology "opposes the
political, economic and cultural relegation of women to positions of
inferiority". Simply put, Feminism affirms women's equality with men,
and rejects patriarchy.
1-Waves of Feminism
A-First wave Feminism in U.K and U.S.A: 19th and early 20th
century
The first wave was more focused on the promotion of equal contract and
property rights for women, the opposition to chattel marriage and
ownership of married women (and their children) by their husbands.
By the end of the 19th century, activism focused primarily on gaining
political power meaning the right of women's suffrage. Feminists such
as Voltairine de Cleyre and Margaret Sanger were still active in
compaining for women's sexual, reproductive and economic rights. In
Britain, in 1918 the Representation of the People act was passed
granting the vote to women over the age of 30, who owned houses. In
1928, this was extended to all women over 21. American first-wave
Feminism involved a wide range of women. One of them is Frances
Willand, who belonged to the conservative Christian groups such as
the Woman's Christian Temperance Union.
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B-Second wave Feminism: 1960s => 1980s
The scholar Imelda Whelehan suggests that the second wave was a
continuation of the earlier phase involving the right of suffrage in the
U.K and U.S.A. The first wave focused on rights, whereas the second
was largely concerned with other issues of equality such as: ending
discrimination is so many fields. It was a phase where the fighting
against social and cultural as well as political inequalities started. This
resulted the coining of the phrase "Women's liberation"; this phrase
was first used in the U.S.A in 1964 and first appeared in print in 1966
(the magazine Ramparts). At the same time, in America, the
American post-war economic boom had led to the development of
new technologies that were supposed to make household work less
difficult. But, this had the result of making women's work less
meaningful and valueless.
III-Types of Feminism
1-Liberal Feminism
Liberal Feminism has mottos like" there can be no free men until there are
free women"," A man of equality is not threatened by a woman for
equality" that's why it shared with Liberalism these ideas:
Human equality.
Human rationality.
Importance of individual rights.
2-Radical Feminism
Radical Feminism appeared as a direct reaction to liberal Feminism.
Multiple radical feminisms came to life and all share a critique of
Liberalist Feminism for accepting the status quo socially and
economically. In accordance to that, we have radical feminisms like:
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Anti-pornography Feminism: It argues that pornography fosters
violence against women. Whereas, Liberal Feminism emphasizes the
1st amendment of free speech rights.
3-Diversity Feminism
Diversity Feminism focuses on the needs and perspectives of non-Anglo,
non-Western and non-affluent women who must be taken into
consideration. It contradicts with Liberal Feminism which ignores the
different perspectives and neglects the fact that women's issue
change across cultures and across time; no single Feminist voice or
point of view.
IV-Pioneers of Feminism
Simone de Beauvoir (1908-1986)
Simone de Beauvoir denies that gender differences are based on biology,
insisting that "one is not born, but becomes a woman". In her work
The second Sex, Simone gives a detailed analysis of women's
oppression and a foundational track of contemporary feminism.
Written in 1949, its English translation was published in 1953. It sets
out a feminist existentialism which prescribes a moral revolution.
Moreover, the author argues that women have been historically
considered deviant and abnormal and contends that even Mary
Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) considered men to be the ideal toward
which women should aspire.
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relations in which human beings are divided into two clear-cut groups,
women and men. Rather than opening up possibilities for a person to
form and choose their own individual identity, therefore feminism had
closed the options down.
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"anatomical destiny". She states that "Her misfortune is to have
been biologically destined for the repetition of life when even in her
own view life doesn't carry within itself reasons for being, reasons
that are more important than life."(p59). Another quotation by
Shulamith Firestone, the Dialectic of Sex: the case of Feminist
Revolution (1972), considers women's situation as pre-social, she
states that "unlike economic class, sex class sprang directly from a
biological reality; men and women were created different and not
equally privileged ...the biological family s an inherently unequal
."power distinction
Sexuality then, is a form of power. Gender, as socially
constructed, embodies it. Women and men are divided by gender n
by the social requirements of heterosexuality, which institutionalizes
.male sexual dominance and female sexual submission
Feminism/Marxism
Mackinon states that just as the organized exploitation of the
work of some for the benefit of others define class (workers), the
organized expropriation of the sexuality of some for the use of other
define the sex (women). Heterosexuality is its structure, gender and
family its form, sex roles its qualities, reproduction a consequence
and control is its issue. Both feminism and marxism provide
accounts of how social arrangements of patterned disparity can be
.internally rational yet unjust
Central to the feminist theory is conscious raising. Through
this process feminists confront the reality of women's condition by
examining their experience and by taking this analysis as a starting
point for individual and social change. For example, women's
.oppression, pain, isolation and inferiority
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the sacred only to men. Biblical language, for them, glorifies men through
all of the masculine pronouns like He-Him while addressing God. For
example, Alice Walker in The color Purple, addresses this issue in the
:name of one of her female characters and says
Well, as we talk and talk about gender, but I am still adrift trying to chase“
that old man out of my head. I have been so busy thinking about him. I
.”never truly notice making God make
Virginia Woolf also resists the kind of male metaphysical world
symbolized by the philosopher Ramsay in To The Light House. Ramsay’s
world works by abstract truths, sharp divisions of fixed essence. It is,
according to Terry Eagleton, “a patriarchal world, for the phallus is the
symbol of sure, self identical truth and it is not to be challenged”. (p.189)
.(Eagleton, Literary Theory (1983
Eagleton further states “the woman is both inside and outside male
society, both a romantically idealized member of it and a victimized
outcast. She is sometimes what stands between man and chaos, and
(sometimes the embodiment of chaos itself. (p190
:Draw backs
Feminist theory is criticized, at least the first phase, for seeking universal
.equality and overlook sexual difference
Kristiva, for example, rejects what she sees as the second phase of
feminism, which seeks a uniquely feminine language which, she thinks, is
.impossible
She also doesn't agree with the feminist who maintain that language and
culture are eventually patriarchal and must be abandoned. Kristiva insists
that culture and language are the domains of speaking beings, and women
.are primarily speaking beings
Fluid: Resisting one fixed and unchangeable form (e.g., fluid sexuality,
fluid identity).
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“The Gaze”: The symbolic and literal act of looking at, and objectifying,
those in a lower position of power than oneself.
Patriarchal: Recognizing fathers, and all men, as the leaders and rulers
of the family and society.
Sex vs. gender: Sex refers to the biological aspects of being male or
female; gender refers to the social aspects of being male or female.
Sex role stereotype: The socially determined model that contains beliefs
about what certain gender roles should be.
Womyn: A term used by radical feminists to take the term “man” out of
“woman,” with the goal of raising awareness of language bias and the
ways in which language shapes perceptions and ideas of gender and
gender roles
REFERNCES
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Catharine A. MacKinnon, Feminism, Marxism, Method, and the State: An
Agenda for Theory Author(s): Source: Signs, Vol. 7, No. 3, Feminist Theory,
(Spring, 1982), pp. 515-544.
Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.,
.(1970
.(Terry Eagleton ,Literary Theory ( Oxford OX4 1JF, England (1983
Julia Kristeva in conversation with Rosiland Coward," Desire, ICA "
.Documents, 1984, p. 22-27
.Friedan,B.The Feminine Mystique. 25 February 1963
Electronic resources
www.google.com
www.ask.com
http://www.sagepub.com
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